Initial Letter B · Y90s Database of Ornament

Title

Initial Letter B

Subject

Inhabited Initial Letter
Foliated Grotesque

Description

Initial letter B is capitalized. The letter is framed within a double-lined square. The letter is white on a black background, the background is studded with white dots. The left side of the letter is a vertical line that flares at the top and bottom. The right side of the letter is made from two hooked arches that loop to meet in the middle. They are widest at the peak of the arch. There are leaves, flowers, and vines behind the initial letter and spread out throughout the innermost box of the square. A grotesque face in profile facing right extrudes from a foliated arabesque in the upper right quadrant. This ornament, dating back to classical times, is known as a “foliated grotesque.”

Source

Savoy Volumes at Yellow Nineties 2.0

Publisher

Leonard Smithers

Date

Volume Six: October 1896
Volume Seven: November 1896

Rights

Public Domain
Toronto Metropolitan University Library Archives & Special Collections

Relation

Savoy Digital Edition, edited by Christopher Keep and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Yellow Nineties 2.0, Toronto Metropolitan University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019.